Demonstration of elitism, informed decision or political ignorance is behind the latest record in Bulgaria's post-totalitarian political history? In Sunday's election for the parliament, 105,893 voters marked the NOTA, or "None of the Above" option in their ballot papers. The choice they made proved irrelevant to the final election result and their massive turnout will remain only in the "best result" statistics after the 87,850 NOTA votes in 2017.

Sociologist Yanitsa Petkova from Gallup International Balkan polling agency describes the profile of these voters.

"Sixty per cent of those who checked the 'None of the above' box were women, almost a third of which were under the age of 30. It is worth noting that they have a higher education and that they live in the capital or in large regional cities.

These are active, young, educated and intelligent people who are disillusioned with political parties in which they have very little trust, but who are willing to get involved in public processes."

• The number of people voting “none of the above” has been growing due to the divisions in society

Psychologist Dr. Plamen Dimitrov, who has observed the behaviour of the so-called "chronic non-voters" since the beginning of the post-communist transition, adds touches to the portrait of the active non-supporters.

"We call this group of people who went to the polls to express their opinion that none of the candidates deserved their support 'aggressively defensive.' Usually there are subgroups within it, and one of them is of people who don't see enough merit and potential in the proposed names. There is also anger, latent or violent, about current events in our political reality. These people, being active and socially and politically aware, want to be seen, to be heard. Like the non-voters who are the majority in this country, they are also part of what we refer to in our research as "Bulgaria's silent majority."

"These are people who can think critically, have a civic stance and, above all, want to improve things," Professor Lidia Denkova continues.

- Their vote is in two directions - indictive, because no formation has reached the level when trust is given, and perspective, i.e. directed towards the future. These voters are saying, "For now, we vote this way, but that doesn't mean we're going to choose 'none of the above' every time." At first, in future elections, when they see a party stepping up to act in the interests of society, they will vote for it. So this is something that regulates the future development of all parties and is extremely useful."

Lydia Denkova advises politicians to pay attention to this group of voters who tell them that they need to change - to start talking not only to one another, but also to society, because "the problems are much broader than their little party puddles".If NOTA were a party, it would be the fifth political force represented with 11 MPs in the new parliament. The Constitutional Court's ruling in 2017, which overturned the penalty of removal from the electoral rolls in the event of two consecutive absences from legally binding elections, makes this voting option rather an anachronism.

It is, however, a warning signal to Bulgarian politicians that if they do not learn their lesson after the fifth election in two years, they may find themselves lined up behind this ever more visible elephant in their glass shop, as bitter jokes have already emerged.

• Bulgarian compatriots abroad: Bulgaria is the mother of all of us!

Text by Diana Tsankova (based on interviews by Veselina Milanova, Valeria Nikolova and Irina Nedeva, BNR-Horizon)

Photos: BNR, BGNES